What’s next for Magic after DeVos’ passing.
The passing of 92-year-old Orlando Magic owner and philanthropist Rich DeVos was met with much sadness within the entire organization Thursday, which should come as no surprise to anyone who ever came in contact with the man they called the “Magic’s biggest cheerleader.”
“He loved his family most, but second to his family only was the Orlando Magic,” said Magic CEO Alex Martins, who spoke to media members at Amway Center on Thursday. “It’s what brought joy to his life.”
It will also come as no surprise that DeVos planned for this day long before his health had started to decline. It was his desire that the Magic franchise remain stable and on solid footing upon his passing and he began that process a few years ago when he went through procedures to make sure the ownership group was transitioning forward.
Martins, with emotion in his voice, said DeVos had absolved himself of any ownership ties to the franchise during the past few years, positioning several family members to start working toward the future without him.
“The team is very much engrained into their family. The second generation, in particular, has owned the franchise for quite some time now,” Martins said. “Mr. DeVos actually had no ownership, recently, of the team itself.”
Before his death, DeVos did what he could to make sure the best interests of the franchise lived on. DeVos most recently held the title of senior chairman of the Magic, and his son, Dan, served as the team’s chairman and representative on the NBA Board of Governors.
The ownership group was vetted by the NBA and the franchise will remain tethered to the DeVos family, of which the Magic has been a huge part since it purchased the team in 1991. The four DeVos children and their spouses — Dick and Betsy DeVos, Dan and Pamella DeVos, Cheri DeVos and Doug and Maria DeVos — are all very much a part of the operation.
“Dan DeVos has been our chairman now for seven years,” Martins said. “In recent years, the league transitioned the governorship of the team from [Rich] DeVos to Dan, and as a matter of fact we have grandchildren working in the organization, so this is something that the entire family embraces and I would envision that they would continue to be the stewards of this franchise for a long time.”
Team officials plan to salute the Magic owner and co-founder of Amway Corp. during the upcoming season.
“We will be wearing an RDV patch on our uniform for the entire upcoming season. We’re having some pins made for all of our staff to be wearing at games during the entire season,” Martins said. “A piece of the basketball floor will have his initials on [it] during the course of the entire season.
“There are a number of ways that we will be honoring him. Those are just a few that we have already established and we’ll continue to plan for the appropriate ways to honor his legacy over the course of the next couple of days.”